Discrimination against the Albanian majority in Gracanica

Despite the fact that the last population census showed that the majority of residents in the Municipality of Gracanica are Albanians, the results of the February 9 elections have painted a different picture. Over 82 percent of the votes in this municipality went to Serbian parties, while Albanian entities received only a small percentage of the votes. According to local political experts, this municipality has created difficulties in registering Albanians. However, this was denied by the Municipality officials

Doubts have been raised that the policies pursued over the years by the Municipality of Graçanica have led to discrepancies between the real and official number of residents.

The last population census showed that there are 18 resident inhabitants, 486 of whom are Albanians and 8 are Serbs. 

But a completely different reality is on the electoral lists. 

In the February 9 elections, 8 votes went to Serbian parties, while 300 went to Albanian parties. Over 1 citizens were eligible to vote in the municipality of Gracanica. 

Article 8 of the Law on General Elections stipulates that the voter list is taken from the Civil Registry, not from the population census data. And, in the civil registry, 26 inhabitants are listed as citizens of Graçanica.

Bekim Salihu, a local policy researcher at the GAP Institute, says that a silent policy has existed in this municipality for years to limit the demographic growth of Albanians.

"The municipality of Gracanica has for a while sabotaged, I say conditionally, the issue of construction permits, especially when it realized that the builders were Albanians and has generally hesitated to register the residents of its municipality as residents of that municipality, but has recognized them more as temporary residents with some terminology, which has been neither legal nor logical," said Salihu.

The spokesperson for the Ombudsman Institution, Petrit Çollaku, says that complaints have been received from 80 Albanian citizens of the Municipality of Graçanica regarding the difficulty in obtaining a construction permit. 

"The second complaint was related to the issuance of construction permits by the Municipality of Gracanica, preventing them from enjoying the property rights guaranteed by law," Çollaku stated.

According to Salihu, the fear of changing the ethnic balance had a direct impact on registration and construction permit policies in this municipality.

"It seems that it was not a coincidence, it seems that what happened in Gracanica for many years was not a coincidence. So, there was a political will or a fear on the part of official politics in that municipality that the registration of Albanians would change the ethnic configuration of the municipality, and consequently would also change the political configuration," Salihu added.

And in the Municipality of Gracanica they denied that there are obstacles of this nature. 

"In the territory of the Municipality of Gracanica, the registration of citizens in the central registry is carried out in a normal manner and without any problems, as long as the parties have the proper documentation," the municipality's response states.

Gracanica received the status of a municipality in 2010, during what was known as the decentralization process. It was formed by separating territory from the municipalities of Pristina, Lipjan, and Fushë Kosova.